Flash mobs used to be so much fun. A group of people would arrange to meet in a public place at a particular time and would perform a song or a dance number or some other form of entertainment very suddenly and without warning. Well, the term "flash mob" is rapidly coming to mean something else now. All over the country, young people are using social media and other forms of communication to coordinate shocking large scale crimes. At first there were just a few isolated "mob robberies" around the country, but now we have a full-fledged flash mob epidemic on our hands. Sometimes these flash mobs are involved in "mass shoplifting" events, and in other cases flash mobs are just committing random acts of violence. But it is a very disturbing sign for our nation that all over the country we have large groups of young people that are banding together to commit very serious crimes. This is something that is really unprecedented in modern U.S. history, and it is yet another indication that our society is starting to fall apart.

[Snip]

Authorities keep telling us that they have everything under control, but these kinds of incidents continue to become more frequent.

But flash mobs are not just engaged in shoplifting. Recently, we have seen quite a few incidents where flash mobs have been involved in mass violence.

Back on July 4th, approximately 1,000 young people violently disrupted an Independence Day celebration in the Cleveland suburb of Shaker Heights. Reportedly, the young people used social media websites to mobilize for the event.

Even more disturbing is what happened recently at the Wisconsin state fair. The following is how one local ABC News affiliate described the "flash mob" attacks that took place....

Milwaukee police said that around 11:10 p.m., squads were sent to the area for reports of battery, fighting and property damage being caused by an unruly crowd of "hundreds" of people. One officer described it as a "mob beating."

Police said the group of young people attacked fair goers who were leaving the fair grounds. Police said that some victims were attacked while walking. They said others were pulled out of cars and off of motorcycles before being beaten.

Could you imagine taking your family to the state fair only to be pulled out of your car and beaten up by a horde of violent youths?

Yes, this is now happening in the heartland of America.

But the biggest problems with flash mobs have been in highly concentrated urban areas. In America today there are millions of young men and women that don't have jobs and that don't have any hope and they are starting to take out their frustrations on innocent people.

So far this year, the worst flash mob violence has been in Chicago. In a recent article, Janet Tavakoli attempted to describe the horrifying violence that has been unleashed in the city by these flash mobs....

This year, all hell has broken loose in downtown Chicago. Years of under-hiring have resulted in a police force that is unprepared for wildings and gang violence. Moreover, concealed carry in Chicago is illegal, unless one follows the Constitution.

Tourists and residents have been attacked by mobs of youths on buses, on beaches, on bicycle paths, near the shops of the Magnificent Mile, and outside their homes. Mobs of shoplifters plagued "Mug Mile" stores.

Even in some of the "best areas" of Chicago, people are being pulled off of bikes and pulled out of cars. Innocent people that are just minding their own business are being brutally attacked.

The following is one eyewitness account of a flash mob attack in Chicago that Tavakoli included in her recent article....

At about 11pm last Friday night, June 3rd, I heard shouting, screaming, horns blaring and tires screeching from my apartment...When I looked out my window to the street below I saw a crowd of about 20 young people...directly across the street from the entrance to my building. They were leaning on parked cars and clogging the street. They were screaming at people walking and driving by. I watched them stop vehicles, including taxi cabs, and pull people from the vehicles...It was a frightening scene and I was sure someone was going to be hurt.

The violence in Chicago has become so extreme that even The Wall Street Journal is reporting on it. The following is how a recent article in the Journal described one eyewitness account....

In another incident last Saturday evening, Krzysztof Wilkowski, after shopping on Michigan Avenue, was sitting on his scooter a couple of blocks away checking his phone for a restaurant when he got whacked in the face with a baseball.

At first, he said, he thought it was a prank, but then he looked up and saw 15 to 20 young men approaching. "My first reaction was, 'I'm about to get robbed, what do I do?' " Mr. Wilkowski recalled in an interview.

The 34-year-old insurance company employee from a Chicago suburb grabbed the keys from his ignition and held tight to his phone. A few of the attackers dragged him off his scooter and pulled him onto Chicago Avenue where they punched him, hit him with his helmet and tried to grab his phone.

What would you do if you had 15 or 20 young men approaching you?

Don't think that it can't happen to you.

The truth is that we can no longer trust that our fellow citizens are going to behave with common decency.

Our society is crumbling, and fewer people than ever seem to have any sense of morality.

All over the nation we are seeing some really bizarre crimes right now. This isn't just happening in the big cities. Just check out some of the recent crimes that have been committed all around the nation....

*In Louisiana recently, a 30-year-old man decapitated his 7-year-old son with a meat cleaver and left his head on the side of the road. What made this crime even more shocking is the fact that the son was suffering from cerebral palsy and was confined to a wheelchair. Reportedly the man had gotten "tired of taking care" of the young child. The following is an excerpt from a Daily Mail report about this horrible crime....

A father has admitted to chopping his son's head off with a meat cleaver and leaving it in the roadside outside his home so that the child's mother would see it.

*In Georgia on Monday, a 14-year-old teen stabbed his grandmother and his great-grandmother with a sword. The 77-year-old great grandmother is dead, but it looks like the grandmother is going to be okay.

*A 21-year-old man in the Chicago area is accused of killing his father with a weed trimmer while his father was sleeping in bed.

*A 19-year-old man from Galveston, Texas who claims to be a vampire recently stormed into a young woman's apartment and started biting her on the neck. Reportedly he was "growling and hissing" while attacking her.

*Recently a 17-year-old Florida teen killed his parents with a hammer, hid their bodies in the master bedroom, and then invited dozens of people over for a massive house party.

The hearts of Americans are growing cold. We have become so desensitized to violence that reports like these barely even affect us anymore.

The United States is becoming a very cruel place. As the economy continues to crumble and as people become even more desperate, the flash mob attacks are going to become more frequent and the bizarre crimes are going to become even more horrible.

We are now starting to reap what we have been sowing for the last several decades. We have thrown away the principles that made this country great, and we have taught our young people that morality really doesn't matter. Now we will pay the price.

What really got me about this article is the author using a word that's often euphemized but shouldn't be. Flash mobs are cruel. The thuggers that compose them are cruel. They're not rebelling against a purportedly cruel America, they're part of the cruelty wave. They may well be the leading edge of a new kind of cruelty.

Horrible as the violence is, a greater threat is the curtailment of cellphone use and the Internet as media for the organizing of these mobs. The mobs can be dealt with. Loss of liberty takes with it the possibility of restoring it.

3
posted on 08/21/2011 11:04:21 PM PDT
by firebrand
(Why didn't they impeach him? He's now totally out of control.)

Its a good thing that Mr. Obama and his minions (He has minions? Yeah, what else would you call them?) buy into their OWN propaganda, otherwise we would in worse trouble. Were in a world wide Depression (Still early in the cycle of it, and its going to get a lot worse, before we hit the bottom of it, never mind start to climb out of it.) and Mr. Obama and his people think they can MANAGE events SKILLFULLY. His own supporters are going to act against him in ways he has not forseen. Think about those flash mobs, I dont think he has.

I don't know why people keep insisting the violence and cruelty is due to poverty. There are many poor people who are not violent or immoral. There are many millions of Americans who still work hard, try to play by the rules, and try to live moral lives.

We live in a society that is on the skids after coasting on its Judeo-Christian past for far too many generations. We'd rather not hear about sin and evil. That kind of talk makes us feel uncomfortable as we prefer to be our own gods, living our lives as we please. We've rejected God.

We have to decide between God or our own selfish motives. If we're unable to restrain ourselves, then government must grow. In fact, people will beg for a king to save them from the unruly, immoral mess that they themselves have created.

What can we do about it? None of us individually can fix America, but we can each fix our own lives. If anything, this is a wakeup call for each of us to try and live better, moral lives. Don't like what's happening to our country? Fix oneself and try to be a positive influence on one’s family and friends. Read the Bible. The answers are there!

11
posted on 08/21/2011 11:27:43 PM PDT
by CitizenUSA
(Bad is easy. Anyone can do bad. Good, OTOH, is work. It takes discipline.)

Re: Flash mob tactics in the promotion of criminal actions, they will be countered first using the same techniques every military officer is trained to use in the implementation of deadly force with mob psychology. First the leader is identified and targeted. When the threshold is reached to justify the use of deadly force, then first kill the leader then reassess the situation.

If the mob fails to come under control of legitimate authority, then contain the mob from outside coordination, and continue to employ force until the mob activity is controlled.

LEOs and first responders are likely to acquire the ability to cutoff all cell phone communications and access the communication linkages in their efforts to enforce the law until the mob rule is taken back under control.

Today, we need public examples made of a few flash mob initiators, that the courts will hold them accountable for the damages they spawn, with both civil and criminal prosecution. Punitive and preventative suffering of those criminally active needs to become the social norm.

15
posted on 08/21/2011 11:41:06 PM PDT
by Cvengr
(Adversity in life and death is inevitable. Thru faith in Christ, stress is optional.)

The only victims of “flash mobs” are delusional libtard dimwits. Flashmobbers know better than to chance only 20 or 30 showing up at a place where one or more CCW folks could potentially have 50 to 75 rounds each.

The authorities must respond to violence with violence. I agree. That’s why I wrote the citizenry will be ruled one way or the other. We’ll either submit to God’s rule, relearn the discipline to rule ourselves, or beg the government to step in and rule us. No matter what, we’ll have a king.

I often write how America’s success is due to our Judeo-Christian past, and it is. However, there are other non-Christian cultures where individuals restrain themselves. Consider the Japanese for example. Fear of bringing shame on oneself and one’s family is effective. Unfortunately, Americans no longer believe in shame, and being non-judgmental is considered the greatest virtue. That does not bode well for the future.

19
posted on 08/22/2011 12:02:05 AM PDT
by CitizenUSA
(Bad is easy. Anyone can do bad. Good, OTOH, is work. It takes discipline.)

Both you and my brother told me to avoid Benton Harbor when I went to St. Joe for a wedding. Others told to avoid Hamtramck and Dearborne and my brother in upstate NY told me to avoid Walmarts in the area while I was there. But now, after hearing of the Wisconsin State Fair debacle, seems I should avoid the mainland altogether.

It's been happening for a long while but only now making the national news reporting; local LEOs can't respond in a timely fashion and those on the shift are out numbered if they ever get there.

Today’s proverty is a result of drugs and the destruction of minds, souls, hearts, lives and finances of those who are willing to pay someone to put poison in their bodies to please pals or those selling said drugs to them. How absolutely astounding that there would be any takers.

They become subhumans wrecking havoc on their children’s lives and now —— flash mobs to steal from the rich.

Welfare rolls are full of druggies expecting the taxpayer to pay for their choice to turn their life over to the drug culture.

And, they play right into the hands of an Obama who wants those in poverty that they can control.

An AK with a drum magazine would probably be sufficient to disperse most “flash mobs”. The store clerks could also just step outside, toss in a poud or two of Zyklon B crystals and then lock the doors. That would also take care of the rodent problems prevalent at some locations.

Drugs are just one aspect of America’s moral decay. Immorality comes in many forms. Pick your poison. Even things as socially accepted in this day and age as divorce and fornication are wrong. People have every excuse to justify their misbehavior, but it’s still sin and sin always has a price.

The left pushes the diversity and tolerance mantra because many of them live lives of self destruction and slavery to sin. I think they hope to salve their guilt by getting enough people to agree with them. That’s why they hate Christians so much. We dare name evil, and it grieves them.

For some reason, people think they can live however they please without destroying the civil society. Well, a single mom lives as she pleases, and even if the social welfare state is eliminated, the rest of us are forced to deal with her feral young.

That’s not to say all single moms are bad. I’m sure there are some who have the self discipline and motivation to raise their children right. Generally speaking, however, the children of single moms have a much, much greater likelihood of turning out poor, uneducated, and criminal.

We live in a very interconnected world, and no man is an island. What we do, even in the privacy of our own homes, often ends up affecting those around us. That doesn’t mean I favor big government. By no means! No, I favor a return to our Christian roots, because citizens who control themselves don’t need government to rule them.

28
posted on 08/22/2011 2:32:18 AM PDT
by CitizenUSA
(Bad is easy. Anyone can do bad. Good, OTOH, is work. It takes discipline.)

I wondered how long it would take before someone tried to blame drugs for the existence of the flash mobs. The flash mobs currently exist for precisely one reason: they are getting away with it. No one is standing up to stop them. Prospective flash mobbers see the success that the thugs are having in beating up innocent people and stealing candy from convenience stores, and so they copy the behavior.

Drugs are just one aspect of Americas moral decay. Immorality comes in many forms. Pick your poison.

All too true. Back in the 19th century, the preferred symbol of decay and ferality was alcohol. Believe it or not, booze was considered the enemy of civilization while narcotics largely got a free pass. The only exception I can think of to the latter was the San Francisco opium dens.

Yes. Alcohol causes a lot of grief. How many drunks have done things they later regretted? More than a few.

I want to make it clear that I’m also a sinner with my own weaknesses. I depend on Christ’s mercy and pray I never see His justice. That’s the difference between believers and unbelievers. I don’t relish my sins. I’m ashamed of them. Unbelievers, on the other hand, not only refuse to admit they do evil, some of them actually relish it. Just look at the participants in gay parades. They proudly celebrate what should be their shame (and I’ll likely be called a hater for merely writing this).

How in the world can a sick person be cured if they refuse to even believe they’re sick in the first place? That’s what’s wrong with the participants in these violent mobs. They’re spiritually sick. It has nothing to do with poverty. Poor people can and do often live moral lives.

36
posted on 08/22/2011 3:12:42 AM PDT
by CitizenUSA
(Bad is easy. Anyone can do bad. Good, OTOH, is work. It takes discipline.)

You’re right about flash mobs getting away with it, but that’s not the root cause. Children who are raised properly would be much, much less likely to participate in one of these mobs. There will always be exceptions, of course, but they should be relatively rare. No. The root cause is immorality. Far too many parents are failing to instill the necessary values in their children, and it’s generational in many cases.

37
posted on 08/22/2011 3:23:00 AM PDT
by CitizenUSA
(Bad is easy. Anyone can do bad. Good, OTOH, is work. It takes discipline.)

"...I don't know why people keep insisting the violence and cruelty is due to poverty..."

It is a liberal thing. They refer to poverty, lack of education, poor health care, bad childhood experiences, as "root causes".

They think that by simply addressing whatever root cause is the target (by implementing some kind of government action or program) then they can fix the problem.

Nobody ever seems to bring up the abject failure of the greatest attempt in history to address problems this way, "The Great Society". Poverty was just as bad (or worse) in black families before they started wasting trillions of dollars, but the crime rate, illegitimacy rates, or nearly any metric used to measure societal success were all far better before the "Great Society" programs kicked in.

That mindset is a form of liberal utopianism.

39
posted on 08/22/2011 3:43:26 AM PDT
by rlmorel
("When marching down the same road, one doesn't need 'marching orders' to reach the same destination")

Flash mobs are becoming more popular for three reasons.
1. The tribe mentality of overwhelming their target. In a tribe less chance of the victims fighting back, even if they do they will be swarmed
2. Less chance of getting caught, how many arrests for these flash mode activities have we seen?
3. The opportunity by giving the disadvantaged cell phones for free. We just used to pay for a home line for emergencies now through the universal service fee we give them the means to organize flash mobs.

42
posted on 08/22/2011 3:53:52 AM PDT
by shoff
(Cuomo is going to change the NY state motto from Excelsior to elixir (cause we bought it)

I know we have a habit of focusing on the bad here on Free Republic, but there are millions of good Americans left. We aren’t in control and we might even be outnumbered, but there’s still hope. Hope and change? I hope we change back to traditional values, individual responsibility, and a love of liberty.

43
posted on 08/22/2011 3:55:41 AM PDT
by CitizenUSA
(Bad is easy. Anyone can do bad. Good, OTOH, is work. It takes discipline.)

IIRC, in "shall-issue" CCW states, between 5% and 10% of the eligible population (non criminals over the age of 21) actually bother to obtain the CCW permit. Of those who bother to obtain the permit, roughly half actually carry on a regular basis. There is, of course, regional variability but on average less than 2% of the population in a shall-issue state is actually carrying at any given time and place.

Those numbers need to increase. I don't look forward to being the lone armed citizen in the face of one of these "flash-mob" crimes.

48
posted on 08/22/2011 4:10:31 AM PDT
by ArrogantBustard
(Western Civilization is Aborting, Buggering, and Contracepting itself out of existence.)

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